Obviously didactic, considering the who, where and when of its writing, so I can't fault it for the politics, even if the revolution went so horrifically pear-shaped in the end.

A public domain version on my nook (fie on Kindle) has been my reading on the exercise bike for a protracted time now and I confess to sometimes getting comrade #2 confused with comrade #5 in the interim. Nonetheless, Gorky's playwright instincts don't desert him. The character of the mother makes quite a journey from the meek victim of her husband's brutality to the brave heroine who's had her consciousness thoroughly raised and isn't about to take any crap. Kinda nice to have a serious heroine with gray hair for a change.